Watchdogs

Arciero and Donahue perform poorly on fiscal responsibility according to Mass Fiscal Alliance Scorecard

When it comes to government, there are a number of watchdog groups, reporting on how the legislative agenda agrees with a position. For example, Massachusetts’ home-grown Citizens for Limited Taxation, founded in 1974, successfully capped property tax growth at 21/2% per year, and continues its efforts to roll-back state income taxes to 5% as mandated by voters. Common Cause Massachusetts continues to press for an Independent Redistricting Commission to keep neighborhoods and towns together, eliminate racial bias through the practice of gerrymandering and promote electoral competition. In 2010, small business owners, dedicated to sound fiscal policies at the state level and making Massachusetts more competitive, formed Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, a new watchdog group.

Mass Fiscal Alliance recently introduced an enlightening feature to its website, the Scorecard. The scorecard ranks every member of the upper and lower house on the basis of their votes in relation to Mass Fiscal Alliance’s positions on government transparency, taxes and small business support. It is a tool to hold elected officials accountable. The Scorecard gives transparency to the legislative process, a position many Massachusetts legislators routinely vote against.

Westford’s representative to the House is James Arciero. Eileen Donahue represents Westford in the Senate. Mass Fiscal Alliance assigns a rank of 26% and 22% to Representative Arciero and Senator Donahue respectively. The highest fiscally conservative score posted by a Democrat was 61% in the House and 83% on the Senate. The Scorecard may be viewed to see the detail of their votes on legislation.